It is well known that certain natural products may possess therapeutic effects, which has lead to their use in the treatment and prevention of human diseases across many cultures (e.g., Chinese herbal medicines and many other folk medicines). The effectiveness of such treatments has lead the pharmaceutical industry to seek and isolate active compounds from these natural products and develop the active ingredients as therapeutic or prophylactic drugs for the treatment and prevention of a variety of diseases or medical conditions. Thus many commonly used pharmaceuticals have been developed or have arisen from natural products. Among these include, aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), which was isolated from bark of the willow tree; ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which were isolated from a Chinese herb Má Huang; and penicillin, which was isolated from fungus (Pennicillium chrysogenum). However, compounds isolated from natural products are known to play certain physiological function(s) in its native host; whereas their therapeutic effects against human diseases are not readily apparent. Historically, such therapeutic treatments were derived merely by accumulated experiences or “trial and error” in humans. Moreover, because such compounds were not initially created for use in humans, the compounds in their native form are frequently not in the most optimal form, both in structure as well as efficacy, to treat human diseases. However, today's modern chemistry technology, including analytical and synthetic chemistries, together with the advances in medicinal biology have made it possible for one to dissect a chemical structure and localize a “pharmacophore” (a core structure that is essential for the therapeutic activity) within a compound such as one isolated from a natural product; furthermore, these new techniques allow one to synthesize new compounds, based on the structure of a pharmacophore, that possess optimal or even better therapeutic efficacy.
In this invention we have demonstrated that a compound with a single (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl)-propenal moiety possesses an activity that could reduce the expression of androgen receptor (AR) protein by enhancing its degradation. This discovery resulted in part from our extensive study of compound ASC-J9 (1,7-Bis-(3,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-5-hydroxy-hepta-1,4,6-trien-3-one), a dimethylated form of a natural compound curcumin (existing as a major pigment in a turmeric plant). Compound curcumin and many of its analogs have been reported to possess numerous biological activities in vitro, such as, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and antiangiogenesis activities; but neither curcumin nor its analogues have been developed into a therapeutic drug to treat human diseases. This indicates curcumin in its native form is probably not an optimal molecule for development into a therapeutic drug.
Previously we have discovered compounds ASC-J9 and ASC-J15 (5-Hydroxy-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl)-4-[3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl)-acryloyl]-hepta-4,6-dienoic acid ethyl ester) (FIG. 1), both possess potent prostate cancer inhibitory and anti-androgenic activity. These two compounds, in our hand, also exhibited more potent anti-prostate cancer activity than a current therapeutic drug hydroxyl flutamide (HF), a class of “non-steroid anti-androgen” drug that is widely used to treat human prostate cancer.
After extensive further study of the structure and bioactivity of ASC-J9 and ASC-J15, we were surprised to find that the (substituted phenyl)-propenal moieties shared by these two compounds are actually the core structure(s) that attribute to the potent anti-androgen/AR activity of these compounds but not the entire curcumin-like structure. Based in part on this finding we have generated, by chemically synthesis, numerous new compounds, including compounds that possess one, two, three or four (substituted phenyl)-propenal moieties to further support the concept that a (substituted phenyl)-propenal moiety is the pharmacophore of these compounds. Results from our study are able to show that the increase in number of these moieties within a compound structure may alter or may increase the anti-androgen/AR activity of the compound. We also demonstrate herein that anti-androgenic activity is present within compounds having a single (substituted phenyl)-propenal moiety. New derivatives, based on our new compounds with at least one (substituted phenyl)-propenal moiety, were also synthesized by the present inventors to elucidate not only the pharmacophore structure but also to evaluate the anti-androgenic and anti-cancer activities. The new compounds, provided herein by the inventors further show significant improvements and optimization of bioactivity, bioavailability, water solubility and other criteria essential for the development of therapeutic drug.